


Post-Script

by Malana



Category: Thick of It (UK)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-04
Updated: 2012-11-04
Packaged: 2017-11-17 17:18:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/554021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malana/pseuds/Malana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was prepared for this. </p>
<p>A brief look at Sam and Malcolm, directly after the final episode.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Post-Script

Sam is prepared for it when it comes.

She’s been organizing things ever since the Inquiry was announced. Sorting through files, shredding what needed to be shredded. It’s not that she particularly wants to make things easy on the next guy (especially if that next guy is Oliver Reeder). But she wants to make sure that nothing is left behind that could make things worse for Malcolm. 

So, when the day actually arrives, there isn’t much to be done. She’s already taken most of her personal items home. All that’s left is a photo of her parents and a rather profane coffee mug the Caledonian Mafia gave her a few Christmases back. They both fit her in purse, so she won’t have to face the humiliation of walking through the offices with some sad cardboard box. 

She stops by Dan Miller’s office to give him her resignation letter. He tells her that she doesn’t have to go. That there would always been a place for her. That he himself was still looking for a PA. She actually considers it for a moment. It’d certainly give her plenty of oportunity to poison him. But in the end, she considers it a triumph that she manages to politely decline, rather than spit in his face. 

She doesn’t watch the news. She cannot watch the news. Seeing him like that, hounded by the press, a shadow of the man she knows, she can’t watch it. It would break her. And right now she can’t be broken. She has to be strong right now. 

She goes back to her flat, but not for long. She packs some toiletries a few changes of clothes, makes sure there isn’t anything in the fridge about to go off. She doesn’t think she’ll be back for a while.

His place is dark when she arrives. He is probably still at the station. Julius, who has been watching the news, keeps her updated by text messages. She doesn’t respond to any of them, but he keeps sending them, and she’s grateful for it. 

She let’s herself in and surveys the flat in dismay. It’s messier than she’s ever seen it. Not bad by most standards, a bit dusty, a few dirty dishes in the sink, and unwashed pot on the stove. But considering that Malcolm’s is usually spotless, it adds yet another weight to Sam’s chest. 

Her phone buzzes and it’s Julius again, telling her Malcolm has just gotten in a car and headed off. She puts the kettle on and begins to tidy while she waits for the water to boil. She takes a bottle of whisky out of the liquor cabinet and makes sure there are clean glasses. 

She’s pouring the tea when she hears the car drive up, hears the shouts from the press. She closes her eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath to try to steady her shaking hands. Malcolm would notice immediately and she won’t have him worrying about her. Not now. 

She hears the key in the lock, hears the door close, hears his footsteps toward the kitchen. He doesn’t look surprised to see her there. The look on his face nearly shatters her heart. 

She doesn’t say a word, and neither does he. She goes to him, wraps her arms around him. She tries to stifle her tears as he buries his face in her hair.

The tea grows cold.

The whisky goes undrunk.

The rest of the world disappears.

He clings to her like a life preserver. She can feel him trembling, can feel the wetness of his tears on her cheek.

She isn’t prepared for this.


End file.
